Elie Wiesel: A Mystery of True Identity Raahul Reddy Marreddy 11th Grade

“What and how they speak may not be so remarkable as that they speak at all” (qtd in Estess par.1) are words that Ted Estess uses to describe Elie Wiesel’s writing career and, specifically, what Wiesel incorporates in his books. In this critique, Estess states his opinion on characters in Wiesel’s popular books, mentioning aspects of these narratives like style and tone. The first main point Estess goes over is Wiesel’s use of questioning, which he says distinguishes itself from other styles of questioning: “...the shape his questioning takes ... has for meaningful dwelling in the world...The shape of his questioning is an ancient one-that of storytelling” (qtd. in Estess 1). What makes Wiesel’s questioning styles unique is that readers will understand his stories through questioning the actual story and will also figure out the meaning behind what Wiesel is actually saying through his words. This questioning leads to the next main point in Wiesel’s books, his perspective on God. Wiesel tries to understand his identity and who he really is by questioning God himself.

As described by Estess, Night doesn’t give the actual answer about one’s self-identity, though this inquiry is answered within Wiesel’s second major book, Dawn: “...